Remnant of The Memories
by Gregg Kygrykhon
Summary: This story take place after the first movie Bleach : Memories of Nobody. Ichigo, who happened to forget Senna, realized that his dearest friend had come back to him. However, her incomplete sacrifice led to more dangers..
1. When I Finally Mourn This Loss

**Bleach – Memory's Remnant**

_Ichigo_ – When I Finally Mourn This Loss

"Take this!" I shouted as I slashed the head of a yet another so called evil hollow. Rukia and I once again spent one tiring night together, fighting and murdering hollows that were spread here and there as well as rescuing souls and sending them to the soul society. It was hard for me, staying awake both day and night and living a completely different life as a high school pupil and a powerful, yet unknown by the rest human being, Shinigami.

However, I felt that something was going wrong, and day by day it got worse. I did not know what was wrong, nor I know how I could felt that way. The only thing I was sure about was that the hollows were getting stronger, and they came out more frequently, not like what I wished it would be. As time passed by, Rukia and I began to be overwhelmed by the almost infinite presence of them. Despite the fact that the hollows were getting stronger, there was one more thing that bothered me the most – a ribbon.

I knew not why, but lately I sometimes found myself having a ribbon in my hand, holding it tightly as if it contained precious memories and gave me power. I would not deny, I did feel stronger as I held that ribbon. Anyway, it was not mine, since I was and still am a man, but I, once again, had a strong feeling about protecting it, and someone that really owned this ribbon.

Then I saw a giant hollow dashing trough the winds to the road where, strangely a girl walking happily, hands holding each other before her chest. To me she looked like she was praying, for her life for sure, if she was about to be attacked by a devilish being. While Rukia was having fun slicing and slaughtering hollows, I jumped on top of the roof, chasing the giant and somehow abnormal looking hollow. Seriously, was there any hollow that has that kind of amber eyes and hold a black sword that looked like mine?

I made it to block the hollow's attack in time, and the hollow ceased opposition. The girl, still walking hapily, were surely looked familiar. I digged my memories, with hopes of finding her identity and realtionship with me. Was she a friend, or an enemy? Or was she sell cakes to me everyday? How could I forget? I racked my brain to know who she was, but I did it in the wrong time.

Just then I helt a heavy force pushing my sword towards me. The hollow attacked with full force, throwing me backward to a wall. I could hear tha huge impact, from the loud bang of the wall's cry until the tiny sound of broken bones of mine. I fell to the ground, and ended up sitting on the ground, powerless and visible to the girl. The girl looked surprised, shocked, and scared, but then she walked to me.

"Ichigo, are you okay?" She asked me with such a worried face. I stared at her eyes, wanted to dig deeper into her memories, so that I could remember who she was. I also caught her staring at my eyes as if we were best friend. I took my sword, and stabbed it to the ground so it could help me up. To my greatest surprise, she helped me up, pointing at the hollow, and nodded her head, as if she asked me to defeat the hollow, and at the same time convincing me that I could, to the best of my ability, defeat the hollow.

As she bowed beside me, took the ribbon I had dropped from my hand, and putting it in my palm, my memory's refraction began to form an image. She was the one who owned the ribbon. And yet she still gave it to me. She still believed in my words, although I had failed once. She smiled at me, and my power were suddenly refilled.

"Go." I said to her, hoping that what I just said was not too rude for her, and she could understand what I mean. As she ran into the darkest corridor, I slashed the hollow, but the hollow was fast enough to avoid it and gave me another blow. However, I was also a fast fighter, and a strong one, so I pulled my sword and blocked its attack. After I had blown its sword from its hand, I raised my sword up high, and with my strong will I slaughtered another hollow that day.

As I looked at the ribbon in my hand after I reclaimed my victory, I could remember clearly what had happened, who she was, and everything. I remembered the Valley of Screams, and her name. Senna.


	2. Eyes Meeting Once Again

**Bleach – Remnant of The Memories**

_Senna _– Eyes Meeting Once Again

I walked a silent and lonely road, having the intention on going home after eating dinner at my friend's house. It had been a while since I had friends, and even a close one. Last time I checked, the last person who was my former self's best friend was a man, with amber eyes and orange hair. He was rude, cruel, stubborn, any bad word would do if you look at him from his cover. However, if you look at him from the inside, he was actually a nice person, being kindhearted and loyal to any of his friends. That was why I like him.

I did not know where he was nor was he alive or not, since I did not know the time gap between my former self's death and its ressurection. All I could do was to pray and hope that he was still alive and that I could find him. It did look like a false hope, but again, he taught me that I should never stop hoping for what I believe in. Remembering him, I felt something that I did not realize before came to me, that he was, to me, someone special. So there I was, walking in a cold, dark road, with hands holding each other in harmony before my chest, praying to God for an impossible wish ever imagined by a Memory Rosary.

Just after I finished my prayers, I heard a loud bang behind me, wind piercing each and every inch of my back with such extreme force that I was forced to move forward. Luckily I could prevent myself from ramming the mother earth, but that was not the only luck I got. When I turned to the broken wall, I found a young man sitting on the ground, powerless and defeated. His attire was mainly black, and now most of it were ragged. A sharp, big sword was in his hand, longing to fall from his master to the dirty soil. Then I recognized his orange hair, then his face, then his amber eyes, then the whole thing. It was the one I wished to meet just a while ago.

I was ready to run to him and help him, but my legs were somehow heavy. Then I remembered the fact that I, as well as my former self, was a Memory Rosary, and that nobody would remember me after my death. So, even he, the only man I could trust and really befriend with, was no longer able to remember who I am. It made me sad – even more miserable - just by realizing the fact when he was right before me. I utterly hated being the only, so called the memories of everybody, when everybody had no memory about me.

I thought that he knew he was no longer invisible to me, and he was confused about my presence. I was scared if he treated me as a hostile being, as we were different now. I wished again that I was a Shinigami just like what my former self had been. If I was a Shinigami, I would surely find him in no time. However, there was no time for regrets. I could see him, and he knew that, so there was no point in holding back.

"Ichigo, are you okay?" I asked him, even if I knew the answer was always yes. He never cared about himself being crushed and slashed so many times, if it was for his friends. I caught him staring at my eyes, but I was also staring at his. His amber eyes always amazed me every time I looked at them, especially when they mean that they would protect me, but now those eyes were searching. They seemed to look for something in my eyes, as though I was familiar to their owner.

That was it, I thought. He could always break the boundaries between the possible and the impossible. I believed in him, and I believe he could stand a chance in remembering me. I hardly knew wether he already remembered me, but someday he would. His amber eyes told me so. When he picked up his sword and stabbed it to the ground so it could support him standing, I helped him up. I pointed at the point where I felt the hollow would stand, and nodded, as to convince him that he could do it.

Appalling as he always be, I found the ribbon Ichigo gave me in the Valley of Screams incident, and it gave me even more hope. I picked it up and gave it to him, the only bound between him and me. He seemed to remember, and I was extremely relieved, more too happy that time. He told me to go in a way that anybody else would say a rude attitude, but I know him, and that was how he show that he was serious. I ran to another dark corridor of the night, yet unafraid of any danger that lied before me.


	3. I'll Never Give Up Hope

**Bleach – Remnant of The Memories**

_Ichigo_ – I'll Never Give Up Hope

Day and night I trapped my mind inside the cage of confusion and regrets. There was to much information in my racked brain for me to digest in a very little time, since I have works to do. I did not know what to do, nor I know where to start. The only thing I wanted was that I could once again meet her, in any situation possible, and from the deepest sea of my heart, apologize to her for my failure. I had been so arrogant by promising her to protect her – the promise I failed to fulfill. However, I knew I could not just sit and wonder – I need to do something about her.

I sat there, longing for something I surely knew would not be easily granted, as well as waiting for another boring class to start. I ignored everything around me, and focused my mind to think about her – anything about her was fine for me to think about. However, how could I found her? She could not walk alone in the very same dark road when I slayed some nasty hollows for the night again. I regreted not to ask about her when we met that time. How about if that meeting was the last meeting with her? It could happen, but I knew I could turn the table. As the bell rang, and the class began, a new student came into my class. I thought it was Rukia, moving here temporarily for a special mission or something else. I was wrong.

It was her, the lady I longed for so long to become once again a truly friend of mine, standing in front of everybody as to start a new experience and a whole new life as a high school student. I somehow could not believe it, and part of me refuses to input the fact to my brain as it was for me unlogically occured. It was usually me who need to work hard, risking my life for a precious comrade, such as Rukia, now that I mentioned it, but she just came out of nowhere, and now introducing herself to the teacher as well as my friends.

It would be too much for me to ask if she came and sit next to me, and I have a great, nostalgic conversation like any of the fairy tales had. However, my world was not a fairy tales, at least not anymore – I could proof any of the tales I have been telling you as a true story. In contrary of the fairy tales I mentioned, she sat on the far corner of the class, in such way that it looked like she was trying to avoid me. It was fine for me, at least I could meet her again, and we could talk about the past, the Valley of Screams, and all that.

While I struggle with words shooting rapidly from the teacher's mouth, my mind could only race with any and every memories about her. I mean, how could she survived after she sacrificed herself? Does that mean she did not compeletely sacrifice herself? Then, what would happen if she did so? Will the Dark Ones return? I thought of things like that until the teacher gave my a gentle, yet mindbreaking punch on my head and gave me headache as a parting gift. However, that headache was fortunately gone before recess, so I could concentrate my mind on engaging a conversation with her.

"Senna," I said to her, holding her left hand to prevent her from walking out of the class. At first she looked somehow happy, then concerned, and the last emotion I captured from her face was confusion. I did not know why she would have such chaos in her mind, but it suddenly occured to me that the girl's hand was not one of the hand that belonged to she who I was willing to search into the deepest pit of darkness. At the very last, she opened her mouth and said a word or two.

"First of all, I don't know you well, so don't act too much.." she said to me first. I was totally shocked by her question. Was that mean she was not able to recall her memories about me? Then, there was no point in engaging a conversation with her. My hope were crushed as I digest the painful truth she had infered by her words that were thrown to me just a couple of seconds before. Just when I thought my long wait had finally over, I realised that it was not fully over.

"And the second thing, my name is not Senna, it's Yui." she continued her heartstopping sentence in such a way that she did feel innocence about releasing those words from her mouth. No, I could not be wrong. I convinced myself about it, but the logic part of me concluded that I really needed to do something else to find the truly her. I released her hands, sinking myself into the painful, ominous darkness.


	4. I'm Fed Up of Sacrifice

**Bleach - Remnant of The Memories**

_Senna_ – I'm Fed Up of Sacrifice, But That's What I Did

The clock before me ticked so slowly as I wait for the day to begin its simple, routine work. I could not bear the seconds I was about to meet him, being enrolled to his school in the same class. However, thinking back, I absolutely did not know if he has forgoten me. He was so kind and with a strong will, saved me from the Valley of Screams, just like what I wanted. When I saw him, when I heard his voice, when I felt his presence, I felt safe, knowing that he was near me. I did not want a man with heart of gold to die because of me – he already suffered enough to save me in the Valley of Screams, fighting and risking his life for me. Just for me. That was why I sacrificed myself – for the world, the soul society, and for himself – although I did not compeletely destroy myself that day.

The day I mentioned was the last day of my former self's existence, when he brought me to the graveyard. I said that I wanted to see my grave, and proof that I did life around that place, but my true intention was to test what he felt about me. I knew, since I was the Memory Rosary, that the memories did not belong to me, and I could clearly see that the names carved on that grave was not my name. I knew he lied, and I knew that he had given me his white lie, so that I would not feel sad. I said to him that I was happy, but it was not because my name was there. It was because he cared about me, and I had hopes about his feelings towards me.

At the very last moment that I could bear waiting, the bell rang, and I was told to follow the teacher to my classroom. However, instead of feeling happy, I was nervous that time. Every step I took was heavy steps, and it got heavier and heavier as I went into the room. The teacher introduced me as Yui, Kurosama Yui, from another school outside Japan. I could see him sitting at the corner, looking outside the window as if he did not care. I was shocked about him being ignorant about me. I assumed that he did not remember me – yet. My faith began to lose footing, and I choosed to sit far from him.

I did not know, maybe he was not able to remember me – yet. Whatever happened, I had promised myself that I would believe in him forever. I knew he would be able to remember me, and what I needed to do was to wait for him to figure out himself. He might not be able to recognize me because of my appearance – I had no longer wore any ribbon, and I was taller than my former self, but I thought it was just a slight changes in my appearance. So, what hold his memories back?

I was no more a shinigami, yet I could feel the presence of the hollows around me. That was why I pointed at a point where I could not see a thing, yet I could feel a strong reiatsu from a giant, evil hollow from that direction. Being a plain human being, I could feel how they lived their lifes, and painted colorful picture in their everyday paper of life. I could feel many emotions now, and I was thankful of it. Yet I still was the Memory Rosary, and the fact that the Valley of Screams was still exist was as clear as my existence here, in his class.

There came the time for recess, and I was about to come out with my new friends, but a warm palm held my hand, as if it did not allow me to came out that quickly. Without looking at him, I knew it was Ichigo. He stood behind me, waiting for my response as I faced him. I realized that I, once again, stare at his beautiful amber eyes.

"Senna," he said to me. At that very moment, my heart jumped in joy, knowing that he actually remembered everything. However, he made one great mistake by calling me Senna rather than Yui. That word actually told me that he remembered me, but that word would also tell anybody that I was Senna. No, I could not tell him yet. I tried my best to look confused.

"First of all, I don't know you well, so don't act too much.." I said to him. He then looked really shocked, as if a lightning had just struck him out of nowhere. It was actually really hard for me to say those words, but I somehow managed to give him back his white lie. I took a deep breath and continued my words.

"And the second thing, my name is not Senna, it's Yui." I said to him, knowing that the words I just said would throw a sharp javelin right to his heart. However, I knew that the words were saving him for now. I actually, deep within my heart, wanted him to recognize me as Senna. I cried deep within as I removed my hand from his, walking away from him with silence sadness of sacrifice.


	5. Unbearable Power of Hatred

**Bleach - Remant of The Memories**

_Ichigo_ – Unbearable Power of Hatred

I was unsheathing my gargantuan blade after trusting my body to the good-for-almost-nothing Kon, and getting myself ready for another cold, hard world at night and the late-night party with hollows. I usually hate the night hunter part of me, but somehow that day I had flooding passion in me. I really enjoyed slashing, slicing and slaughtering the hollows as if I was fed by their blood. I did not know what had brought this killing instinct to my soul, but it made me feel stronger, and offered a great help in my Shinigami tasks.

"Any Hollow else?" I shouted in an insatiable hunger of slaying them. I had really gone wild, as if nothing happened hours before. I removed my memories of that day, throwing the generated hatred in it into cold decay, and replaced it with a usual day of school memories, so that nothing could hold me back when I performed shadow dances with the hollows. My plan worked, and now nothing could stop my culling blade from skinning them into ashes.

Just then I felt a strong reiatsu, as if three Zanpakus were there. I could not find him anywhere, as the only spritual being present in front of me was a hollow. It was somehow familiar, but I was interested in nothing but slicing it kind. However, I knew it was the owner of such strong reiatsu, as if it was a Shinigami. By the way, it got a black sword that seemed to be the mirror image of mine, that screamed whole-heartedly after its clash with my sword.

I was suprised by the hollow's strength, as it could block my first critical strike, and tossed me upwards, preparing its blade to impale me from its position. I pointed my sword at it, as if I was about to kill it instantly, but its movement was faster than mine, which again, struck me with surprise and thrusted me with its collosal knife. I underestimated it, and in one blink, I decided to use my Ban Kai. I would not allow any hollow to escape my wrath.

The hollow was taking form of a man wearing a black robe. After a while I noticed that the hollow had two amber eyes and orange hair, just like the hollow that attacked Senna – Yui I mean, if the attacked girl was her. My power of hatred became much bigger, errupting inside my soul as the hollow reminded me of her.

I hated her. I hated the fact that she was not Senna – and I hated her after she lied to me, if she was Senna. I was waiting for the opportunities to meet her, to engage conversation with her, to express my feeling, yet she did not seem to notice me. She left me alone after I longed for her existence by my side, and even if she really was Yui instead of Senna, she was guilty of having the same features as Senna, as no one could replace her in the first place. I hated her, this day, that meeting, the truth, the world, the Valley of Screams, the Soul Society, the Dark Ones, the Blanks, the hollow, and Rukia, for they had brought me to this rupture of emotions, torment of my soul with their unworthy stories of the dead.

Now that my empowering hatred had been concentrated on my black, slim sword, I charged the hollow with such madness and impurities in my attack. Nothing came to my mind but to kill - no, to assasinate it. However, even my Ban Kai could not defeat that hollow. Instead, he grabbed my sword with its human hand and swang its sharp knife to my belly. The hollow began to reform, but not back to monstrous hollow form. Instead, it remained in its human form, but with different utter black attire and a slim sword just like a replication of mine.

My haste of defeating the hollow began to corrupt my sane soul as I absorbed the power of darkness and turned into my hollow form. A mask of death began to cover my Shinigami face as I started myself in a battle trance in order to slaughter that hollow. Just after a while that I noticed that as I turned into a hollow, the hollow was perfectly looked like me. I did not know how that could really happen, but I did not really care. At last, the relieving clangs of swords filled the forstbiting air in the night. The fight did not stop until I was tired of slashing and swinging in full speed.

I did not know how to defeat it, as it was perfectly an incarnation of my power in form of an evil spiritual being. I was so tired that my hollow form and my Ban Kai had gone, leaving me in my usual Shinigami form. I did not know if I could be alive if the hollow abnormally retreated, leaving me in deep confusion about what just happened in my daily night life of the slave of the Soul Society. Seriously, was that a hollow?


	6. Ichigo's Refraction

**Bleach - Remnant of The Memories**

_Rukia_ – Ichigo's Refraction

The moon started to dominate the sky as we, Ichigo and I, began our daily hunt of hollows, supernatural beings which, last time I checked, were evil and seek blind revenge on their closest family. I needed to warn him, once again, that he needed to use Kon instead of his Shingami badge, since anyone with heart would be terrified and panic-stricken if he or she found a soulless body lying on a random point in the street. Yeah, he never learn, and that kind of thing usually happened.

I did not know what was wrong with him – or me – but I could see that he was cursed in thirst of hollow blood, the victory symbol of our war. He slashed and stabbed the hollow with so much passion in him – I could not even imagine that he likes it to be a Shinigami. However, it was not a big problem to me. Instead it was an advantage, since he could finish his task quickly that night.

Then I remembered of him before today. He was always troubled with his Shinigami task – often groaned or mumbled as thought he did not care any of the hollow hunt. He would be reckless enough to step his foot into a booby trap that even a ten-year-old Shinigami could notice. As far as I could tell, his brain was unusually small, as he could only depend on his power to defeat his enemy without any strategy.

Yet his strength could not be denied by anybody standing before him as an opposition. He was strong, and only a fool – even more stupid than he himself – would question his power. He had gone through many dangers and faces many potent enemies, and yet he survived the deadly battle and could stand before me now.

And also his loyalty. He was loyal to the bone, especially to his friends, as he treasure each and every friend he had like precious, pristine crystal, and to protect the crystals he would do almost anything, even if to sacrifice himself is the only way. I was really, extremely, happy when I was rescued by him in the Soul Society, and what made me happy the most was his reason of saving me, "because Rukia is a precious comrade". I have never seen anyone fighting and sacrificing his or her life for me, and the fact that he did fight for me, made me feel really protected, and I could not even describe my feelings with words. With that kind of loyalty, I wonder how pleased a girl could be if she was his girlfriend.

Oops, that kind of thoughts again. I did not know, but since I met him, I sometimes think about he having a girlfriend or some short. It was quiet bothering me, and I sometimes could not concentrate on anything I did if that thoughts was about to come. I kept reassuring myself that Ichigo was just my comrade, nothing more. Only a comrade, a friend of mine that was willing to do anything for me. He was a best friend, a handsome tall guy with such kind heart and...

A hollow threw a punch on my back, and that blow saved me from that wierd thought. At last I could concentrate on the hollow, and I could slaughter it with one blow. The dance of destruction continued to flow as more and more hollow were slayed by my sword. Just then I noticed that I could only kill a few – many other hollows were already slaughtered by a strange power held by him that very night. There was only one hollow left, and I intented to let him finish the last one.

I did not know what was happening, but the hollow must be very strong, so strong that Ichigo needed Ban Kai in order to defeat it. The hollow morphed into human – no, it formed into a Shinigami, with orange hair and amber eyes. The hollow looked like Ichigo, except for the hollow mask. However, when I saw him, he already took his hollow form.

It was impossible to say which was which, since they were compeletely the same, and I was confused about who won and who lost the fight. I could only recognise him when he was thrown to the ground and lost the fight. Wait, Ichigo lost?

I unsheathed my sword. If Ichigo could not handle that hollow even with his Ban Kai, then something was terribly wrong. Just a moment after that I saw a girl, with a shining palm, aimed her hand to the hollow, shooting a blue arrow from her shining palm. And a strange thing was that the hollow, after being so strong that it could defeat Ichigo, retreated after the blue arrow stabbed it.

I bet Ichigo did not see the girl, since their vision to each other was blocked by a wall, but to me, the girl seemed familiar. A quincy with purple hair, I wonder who she was.


	7. Born to Be Tormented

**Bleach - Remant of The Memories**

_Yui _– Born to Be Tormented

The moon seemed to glow in a different way than the other night, just like how different my life was from any of my other friends either in school, around my house, or in any places I used to live in. I was always different from the other, even from my parents, who had planted unconditional love in my heart. They tried hard to survive any dangers approaching them, the dangers I attracted for them because I was different. They said that I was already different from when I was born – no, even when I still stayed at my mother's womb, I already was different.

I myself could not find any difference between my friends and I, the reason I was always alone. Even what I meant by friends were those who I barely knew their names – I had never had a true friend before. I read from many articles about friendship and all that, but the experience I had never got from anybody. Just after my fifteenth birthday I knew what had gone wrong with me. I heard voices.

The voices were at first really hard to hear, I could not form any meanings – just some random words coming to my ears from my inner self. I then slowly understand what the voices was trying to say – the truth about what was the difference I held for so long, the difference that brought disasters to my family – and myself. However, the voices also introduced herself and introduced a certain people that she mentioned to be able to protect me. She told me to look for that certain someone, but before that she said that I needed to learn some survival skills.

I did not bump to a random guy on the street and asked to be his disciple. My inner self led me to Ishida, the so-called great quincy, and I learned the art of a quincy. I barely could shoot an arrow, and that cost me a lot of concentration and inner power. He then said that I was fine with my abilities, and that I should search for that certain Shinigami – a term that me myself did not clearly understand. However, the first impression I had about that certain someone was a strong, kind-hearted person – an impression that I threw far, far away after I witnessed his very battle.

I began to question my inner self about the person that many person admired. She seemed to be so convinced about his ability to do anything he wanted to do. He was also a kind hearted person and a loyal friend. I could see a pattern that my inner self knew the person well, and from her voice I could notice that she had feelings towards that person, and there were stories behind the relationship of those two.

"Senna, what do you feel about him?" I asked my inner self. She was silence for a little while, then she explained what she remembered about him. It was the story of her origins, and the first time she had experienced the feelings of sad, happy, frightened, relieved, and love. She said that the time she spent with him was the most precious and memorable moment of hers. She glowed when she told stories about him, so spirited in anything about him.

Then we saw the person was defeated by his enemy – only a single one, but looked very strong. Senna asked to take control of my body, and I allowed her to do so. She actually could take control of my body at once, but she said that it was impolite to control someone without permission, especially because she had sacrificed her body to safe the world. She said that because her soul did not perished and instead took a place in my heart, the danger of the Valley of Screams could be brought back, if anyone discovered the way and wanted to use it.

She raised her, or rather my, shining palm and drew a blue arrow, pointing at the person's enemy. I could feel a strong power flowing through my blood, and it was actually quiet displeasing. However, I could bear the potent flow of power, since Senna needed to use it. Her arrow was fast and powerful that a single strike of it could make the enemy retreat.

I could not really see the features of the man she liked – I assumed that she felt that way. There was a wall between us, and our vision to each other were blocked. However, Senna noticed another Shinigami watching us from above, and Senna decided to run away from that particular Shinigami. She seemed to know the Shinigami, but she said that it was not the right time to show her true identity to them.


	8. Introducing the New Element of Death

**Bleach - Remnant of The Memories**

_Senna_ – Introducing the New Element of Death

I rushed away from them, for I was truly a coward, and also because I sensed someone else. That someone had a strong reiatsu, and I knew that he would not do any good to us. Well, when I mentioned us, it meant me and Yui, the owner of this body. Yeah, I did mentioned about my former self, but that myself was different. I was kind enough to get Yui out of confusion by telling her my so called history before she could actually see him.

I told her that one day I woke up near a river. What I had in mind was the memories of my father and the fact that I was a shinigami, that according to my brain cells, hunt every night to defeat hollow. The detail of the hollow itself was unknown to me, yet I could somehow felt the hollow presence by the reiatsu. That day, I did not know that I was the Memory Rosary, nor did I know what a memory rosary was. Yui asked me what a memory rosary was, and I told her about the blanks, which were related to the formation of the memory rosary.

From her eyes I could tell that she was still confused. She asked me why that memory rosary was my former body. Then I told her my story – the first time I could live as a normal person. I could feel anger, fear, happiness and love. In just a second I noticed that Yui realised a love story, and she demanded to hear that story, but I decided to put a mist between her and the truth. Then I told her that after I sacrificed myself, I could somehow escape from the Valley of Screams, and then I seek for a person, so that I could live in her heart and generate my incarnation.

"And that's me? So I wasn't different from the start?" She asked me in a flooding curiousity. I truly did not know about Yui's past, but I could just explain to her that I could live in her heart, due to one thing or another, and that thing probably made her different from the start. She was a bit sad after hearing my answer, but I convinced her that after she met Ichigo, everything would be fine.

And after we met him she asked the reason I ran away. I just told her that it was not the right time. As I ran into the moonlight-bathed road, I could feel that the dangerous someone was nearby. My heart beat faster and faster as I sensed fangs of danger on my throath. I was busy watching my surroundings when I realised that I had no clue where was I running, as my path was a dead end. I was shocked by the fact that my instinct of navigation was wrong, and Yui was in hysteria. Neither Yui nor I knew how I got there, and we were both afraid as we heard footsteps behind us.

When I turned, I saw a teenager wearing black attire, with a black sword, amber eyes, and orange hair. At first I was relieved, and I was about to call his name, but then I noticed something wrong with him – his reiatsu. I did agree that Ichigo's reiatsu was very strong, but his reiatsu now was even stronger – I guess it was two or three times stronger than Ichigo's. And it was not only the strength that made me hesitate. It was the emotion contained in the reiatsu – it was vengeance.

The person before me was the person who defeated Ichigo.

I aimed my palm at him, while digging my spiritual power from the deepest energy available, and concentrated those power in a form of arrow. Yui seemed to be very displeased by the feelings, as I was sure that Yui never felt the condition when your power were dragged out of its current place by force. It was like having a long tapeworm in each and every veins a person has, and they were moving to the point where the power was about to be concentrated.

When I released the blue arrow, my enemy did not even try to avoid it. Instead, my arrow disappear from his body after it reached him. It was really horrible to me, as I witnessed before that he actually retreated after he was shot by me. Was that only a distraction? Was that his plan? I kept asking myself in fear. The only thing I knew about him was that I could not even harm him. I racked my brain to create an escape plan while Yui asked what we should do. The man took a step towards us, and in panic, I slowly took a step back. He walked nearer and nearer until I could not step back any longer.

He sheathed his sword and moved her head right beside me. I was in terror – I was thinking about what dangers I brought for Yui by living in her body. I wished I could have one last minute before we died – I would spend that minute apologising to her. Whether she would forgive me or not, that was another matter. However, it was not like what I had been thinking. He, instead of stabbing me or murdering me, only whispered some words of hatred.

"I will take revenge sooner or later." He whispered, then his body turned to purple smoke.


	9. When Unwanted Dreams Come True

**Bleach – Remnant of The Memories**

_Ichigo_ – When Unwanted Dreams Come True

That night and fight had blown away my overlimit hatred, and now I could spend another boring day in class struggling with numbers and words from my tomes of knowledge. I did sometimes found that a battle was in some way therapheutic, at least for a battle that was hard to win. And despite the fast that I lost the fight to that hollow, I was a bit relieved about Senna. However, finding a hollow that strong was not a good news to us shinigami. We needed to report to the soul society, make a boring report, et cetera, but it was only for Rukia, since I was not an "official" shinigami. The boring part I got was to wait until the next fight, which I knew not when it would happen again.

From that battle, I got several bruises, which I had never had as an aftershock of shingami battle. Orihime asked me what had happened, and I told her another fake story – that I met an insane jerk that sudenly picked a fight. I said that because I was a man, I did not have any intention in running away. She was worried about me, which I found strange, as it was normal for a jerk to fight another jerk, at least in the night.

When it was recess, a reversed event occured, where Yui came to me, held my hand as I walked out of the classroom to have snacks. I did not have the mood to call her Senna, the fact that according to her, was not true. It did not matter whether she was Senna or just Yui, and I predicted that she wanted so say sorry, she wanted to tell me that she did not mean to be so rude, any girl stuff that would fit her silence, shy personalities. However, once again I was wrong about girls.

She, in an embarrassed way, asked me to go with her to the rooftop. I followed her because I thought that in her opinion, that apology was a private one. For each staircase I stepped, my impatience level raised one level higher. The path to the rooftop of that school seemed to be really far away, complicated and overlapping. It was a luck that we arrived at the rooftop one level before my impatience exploded.

I thought what she had said the day before was right. To me, she was somehow different from Senna. She was quiet and not as energetic as the Senna that I used to know. She was a calm and shy girl, all her personalities were the opposites of Senna's – the only similiarities between them were their appearances. I decided that she was just a random girl from a random place and had no relation to me. However, there was something in her that made her different from any other human. It was her reiatsu.

I did not know that such a calm, shy girl could have a reiatsu. The reiatsu were weak, as I expected. Yet I could feel it as a weak heartbeat of the great king, and one day that heartbeat could cause a massive earthquakes in any land she stands on. However, it was not a big problem as long as the reiatsu was still in a weak state. She did not seem to be a shinigami to me, anyway.

"Umh, Ichigo..." She started the conversation. She, instead of apologizing, asked about Senna, what did she look like, what kind of character she had, and all that. When I explained what I knew about Senna, Yui just giggled, then from her glances I knew I was blushing. I did not know why I blushed when I talked about her.

Yui told me that she was glad after she knew that I remembered what was she like. I was trapped in confusion – I did not understand what she was talking about. The chaos around me increased as I felt her reiatsu getting stronger. Her appearance somehow changed – more like Senna now. And her way of speaking, her behaviour, she was suddenly Senna. My brain cells were dead, unable to process what had happened and failed to put what had happened into any logic.

I asked her whether she was Senna or not, and the answer entrapped me more in the jail of confusion – that she was Senna AND she was not Senna. She noticed my confusion, then she said that she would keep the truth concealed until I did her a favor. Just before my upper lips moved to ask her what kind of favor, she dragged my hand, pulling me away from the skycrapper. I wondered what she wanted me to do. I was shocked after she dragged me out of school, as school time was not over. What kind of trouble she could trigger, I had no idea, but I followed her anyway.


	10. The First Real Interaction

**Bleach - Remnant of The Memories**

_Yui_ – The First Real Interaction

Being able to interact with someone else, I felt very nervous after I heard Senna's plan. She promised me a good friend, and I could not fight against the magnetic temptation of the word "interaction". Like I said, I barely had friends from I was young. Imagine, for fifteen years I spent happiness and sadness alone, unable to share my feelings and deep thought to others. I did not know how exciting it was to share a gleeful moment with a friend, nor did I know how sharing my problems would make me a little relieved.

Besides, the person I wanted to befriend with was a boy. I often heard that teenagers sometimes build relationship with a person who is of the opposite gender. What was it called – dating ? Yeah, I also did not know about that kind of relationship, so I had intentions in building one. And according to what Senna had explained, Ichigo was such a good person that anyone would like to befriend with him. I, deep under my subconscious, could not easily believe in her, because I knew that she admired him. Besides, he did not look very friendly – Instead, the first image I captured from him was a gangster or some sort.

The clock ticked clearly to me, even when the echoing noises came to and from my ears. Recess was near, and I could feel my palms were sweating. I was nervous because the break time was the planned time to do the "proposal" as planned. I did not know what that word could mean, but Senna said that word, and explained that it was the first step to build relationship. Even when I did not know what was happening, I was very nervous. It was like I had something in my mind that hold me back, but I knew I need to give a try.

"W-Will you come with me to the rooftop?" I asked him after gathering the strength and courage I could have. He was going to go to the canteen to grab some snacks when I asked him that while holding his hand. I could feel my heart pumped the blood quickly, sending blood right trough my veins when I hold his hands. I thought it was just a normal act, but I somehow felt something different. Rain of hestiation gushed in my mind, but I luckily could made my mind about taking him to the rooftop.

I was so glad that he agreed, and I dragged him through the stairs up to the rooftop. After he agreed to come with me, I somehow could not afford to lose his hand. I got a feeling that I had not felt before – the feeling of extreme happiness. No, it was more that that. I thought that it was, love? It was this feeling that made many teenagers in this world happy. It was this feeling that made Senna sacrifice herself, and it was this feeling that made me possess Senna in my heart.

After we arrived at the rooftop, I started a conversation in an embarrassed way, just like what Senna had told me. He then looked confused after I asked things about Senna. I did not know whether he could understand Senna's and my condition that time. Beside confused, I also captured his glance – he was like staring at something that he had never seen. I assumed that he knew what differed me from another person living in this world. However, he did not show any sign of irritation, nor could I see his attemp in getting rid of me.

When I asked what did he knew about Senna, I could clearly notice that he was blushing when he told me his first meeting with her. From that, I could conclude that Senna and Ichigo liked each other, and I felt a little strange after I realized that. It was like the feeling after someone had betrayed me. It was like the feeling after Senna had betrayed me. However, I quickly wiped that kind of thought from my mind, as I knew and believe that he only belonged to her. After a short while, Senna asked the permission to take control over my body. I allowed her.

She said to him that she was glad he could remember her. I guessed he could notice the changes of my behaviors, and he was confused even more than before. He then asked his first question about who we truly were, and he was thrown deeper into the pit of confusion after hearing Senna's answer, that we were Senna and we were not Senna. I thought it was a smart move to make him even more confused and curios about us. Senna decided to conceal the truth unless Ichigo could do her a favor. She dragged his hand, pulling him down to the lower storey and out of the school. I could see his concern about leaving school within that time, but Senna said that it was okay.


	11. Suspicious Looking Person

**Bleach - Remnant of The Memories**

_Rukia_ – Suspicious Looking Person

The sun beamed its light to my face as I welcomed the new day. From the very moment I woke up, my mind was filled with last night battle. There was a hollow – no, not a hollow, but something more. A spiritual creature that could transform into its enemy's form. I wondered how strong that creature was, since it could beat Ichigo – even hollow Ichigo. I got a feeling that something must have gone wrong – either that creture was compeletely, extremely strong or that Ichigo was thinking of something else that distracted him, or even both.

He would be very annoyed knowing there was a creature that could defeat him. The Ichigo I knew would practice everyday and become stronger in order to defeat the enemy that could defeat him at first. And his behavior would be worse if he knew that there was a girl who could defeat the creature in one shot. Yeah, I had never seen a quincy that strong.

Thinking about that quincy, I somehow felt that I had seen her before. Beside Ishida, I had never seen any quincy before. I started to wonder who she was, where did she come from, what was her intention, and so on. Just when I thought about her, I noticed that she was in my sight, but she did not come to me. Instead, she came before Ichigo, with a blushing face, holding Ichigo's hand.

My eyes were no longer trustworthy, and I could not believe the vision that had struck them. Some strange, suspicious girl asked Ichigo to the rooftop? What did she want to do? All that questions rushed their way through my mind as I stared at the girl more and more suspiciously. The most probable possibility I could think of that time was that the girl would propose her feelings to Ichigo, and that was, somehow, did not feel very right.

Being curious of what was happening, I followed them to the rooftop. The rooftop was an open field fifteen metres above the ground, so I could not find a hiding place that was near enough to hear their conversation. 'How dare this strange girl confess her feelings to Ichigo – the had just met yesterday !' is definitely what I was thinking about. I grew more and more impatient about knowing the truth – being an eye witness of the confession was not enough.

It was just a while before they moved from where they were standing – it took years for the curious me to wait that short. The girl then again dragged Ichigo – violently, to my vision – out from the school. That made me even more suspicious of her. She was the quincy who defeated the creature with one shot, and it was probably dangerous for Ichigo to go with such a great spiritual energy holder. And one thing I was even more concerned about, it was still school hours and they intended to go on a, a date!

I followed them curiously yet stealthily as they ran – joyfully, I guess – through the roads. The girl, to my perspective, was forcing Ichigo to follow her, since I got some evidence of Ichigo's resistance. And as I thought that way, I started to feel a strange reiatsu – not from Ichigo, but from the girl. In another second I concluded that the girl was dangerous, but since I did not know her motivation, I just needed to follow them first.

At last we arrived at the amusement park. No way, they DID go on a date. That was a bad thing because, as far as I understood from the so-called telenovela (yeah, I did watch those – and anime also), a stranger who propose to someone did not have any good intention at all! That girl would only bring disasters to Ichigo. If he just chose me instead of her, his life would not have so much trouble. The worst thing a man could do was to choose wrong partner on a date – and Ichigo did that mistake.

I felt reiatsus even stronger than before when I entered the park. It was not from the girl, but I got a feeling that the girl was the person who brought the reiatsu owner to Ichigo. I prepared my shinigami badge just in case of unwanted things. I walked towards the reiatsu's source, and what I found was even more terrible than their date.

It was a horde of thousands pixie-hat white creature, and as far as I knew they were blanks. Blanks? Form the Valley of Screams? I remembered everything that very moment. The dimension that almost brought destruction to both human world and the soul society, the blanks which did not have memories, and the memory rosary. Senna – she was still alive! If she was alive when she had sacrificed herself to destroy the Valley of Screams, there was a possibility that the Valley of Screams still existed.


	12. Can't Blame Anyone But Myself

**Bleach – Remnant of The Memories**

_Senna_ – Can't Blame Anyone But Myself

The path of fate was clear when I finally took an act according to our plan in 'having a relationship' with him. We needed to act quickly, as there was inadequate time for us three to be together. And knowing that our time was about to come, I dragged Ichigo in extreme happiness, yet it was covered with worries of what dangers might come to us.

Our – Yui and I – plan was to have a conversation with him while licking nice, sweet ice creams in the romantic amusement park. I did not have any memory about dating someone I like – at least if my memories were trustworthy enough. And, to be honest, I wanted Ichigo to be the person sitting next to me, giving encouragement to me that life in this world was easy to handle of you have friends, protecting me from any of physical and emotional harm, and all that. I wanted him.

I thought that it was not the right time I spent 'engaging conversation' with him, but our time was running out. The blanks were about to reincarnate and before that time, I wanted to achieve my goal. Yui, being able to read my mind as we were connected mentally, asked what these blanks were, and that was too much for me to answer in that matter of time. All that Yui should know was that these blanks came looking for me, and I did not sacrifice myself to destroy them when the opportunity came. The reason I did not do it, I told Yui, was because of the man that I dragged the whole time.

I did say that I would rather sacrifice myself than to let Ichigo dies, but that was partially a lie. I did jump into the Valley of Screams to destroy the dimension and the blanks inside, but the fact that I failed was inevitable. After I jumped and destroy MOST of the Valley of Screams, a little part of it still remained. And from that part of dimension, I could get out. Still, I did not have any gigai after I got out of that dimension, and then I met Yui. What was special about Yui was that she could have more than one person using the gigai. However, her ability to do this was still inadvanced, so I could stay but could not partially control her body.

When I entered the amusement park, the pungent smell of danger struck my nose, and Yui got a strong feeling about leaving the amusement park right away. However, I was really sure about this date, and no one could stop me. I wondered whether Ichigo could feel the nearby blanks, but he did not seem to be so. Feeling the blanks' presence, I started to think about the reason why a little part of the Valley of Screams could exist.

If I think deeply about it, it was all because of me. True, I did want to sacrifice myself for the sake of the human world – in fact, both the human world and soul society would be destroyed by then if I did not do so. However, a little part of my heart refuses to fully sacrifice myself to destroy the Valley of Screams. That part of me wanted to see Ichigo again, dig deep into his amber eyes, and grasp the wisdom of his heart. It was my love towards Ichigo that held me back from fully sacrificing myself.

However, it was just a painful past, and what I needed to concentrate at was our way to the amusement park. I, in a hurry, provided Ichigo a seat in the middle of the amusement park, while I ran to the nearest ice cream shop, and buy three ice creams. The ice creams were for Ichigo, Yui and I. He might found it strange that a girl would eat to ice creams at once, but I bought the ice creams with different flavour; Strawberries for me, Vanilla for Yui – since she liked it, and Chocolate for Ichigo. I was planning to explain all the truths to Ichigo.

Just after I gave the ice creams to Ichigo with a pair of eyes staring at me like I was a fat woman, I felt a strong yet strange reiatsu, and I knew we did not have enough time – not long enough to engage a normal date. The blanks were already reincarnated, and they came surrounding the whole amusement park. The reiatsu seemed to be noticed by Ichigo, since I could see the worries of his face.

Even in that kind of situation, I was still hesitating about telling him the truth. I was worried if Ichigo would be really angry about what I was about to tell him. I did not want to be seen badly, especially by him. However, I did have to tell him the truth, so that I could ask for his help in bearing the consequences of what I had done. My heart was moving left and right, having no knowledge about what was right. While my mind raced back and forth, another second had passed without me doing anything.


	13. What Nobody Never Expected

**Bleach – Remnant of The Memories**

_Ichigo_ – What Nobody Never Expected

What was a woman's heart? How deep was it? A man can never know. Women are mysteries – they would just come out of nowhere and offer you something that looked too good to be true. I had heard about someone who had done research for more than 30 years to know better about a woman's heart. Still, he failed to do so. Maybe it was the mysteries that needed to be left alone. Maybe it was better not to deal with their hearts.

I mean, look at me! I sat in the middle of the crowd, nowhere in my navigation sense, in the time when I should be in class, listening to a yet another boring explaination that could never take root at my brain. With an ice ccream in my hand and a beautiful girl in front of me, I felt awkward to taste each and every lick of ice cream without the right timing and positioning. In the middle of the noisy crowds, silence fell between us – a deafening silence that I could bear for another minutes.

A date that I remembered was far too different from this. We were just sitting before each other, staring at the face we wanted to see, while enjoying an ice cream while my tongue was numb. No one wanted to start a conversation between us – we did not know what to talk about. For me, Senna was the one who must engage a conversation, since she was the one who brought me here. However, she seemed to be thoughtless – all she did was to stare at my eyes with such a charmed face. I did not know how charming I was – not to be arrogant, okay? - that she could not aim her eyes at any other point.

Just when I wished this staring event would end, I felt a strong reiatsu nearby – very close indeed. Senna seemed to notice the reiatsu as well, but she tried to ignore it and began to move her lips. She tried hard to throw any word she could think of that time, and it was not successful. Her face showed her fear, as well as he needs to be quick as if it was the end of her life. I regreted that last phrase.

The reiatsu was getting stronger and stronger, and it revealed its owner's identity to me clearly. A pixie-hat white creature was the owner of this strange pressure, tormenting me once again with such vile crawling fear. The presence of these nasty creatures had driven many people away without having these people noticing their existence. No, any person with instinct of danger would have run away as far as possible, since the encroaching danger was truly evident.

To see Senna's shoulder trembling with fear, bitting her lower lips in doubt, was unbearable to me. I wanted to grab her shoulders, telling her everything should and would be okay, so that se would not tremble anymore. So full of hatred I was to know Senna's lies, more overpowered by hatred I was to see her crushed by the dread's claws. Holding her hands thightly and firmly, I stared at her eyes, echoing the message that I would protect her.

To be honest, she was actually quiet cute when she blush. Well, that was better than seeing her trembling in crippling fear, trapped with the entangling dread root. Sensing that the danger could no more be tolerated, we coincidentally stood up together, with hands still holding each other., and slowly walked away from the abandoned land possessed by the creatures of emptiness, like bride and groom.

Then she suddenly screamed in terror, like she knew the grim reaper had just passed by beside her. What she felt, I did not know, but I could somehow grope into her heart, for I could know she had these feelings – or it was me? - that she was about to be murdered. She had showed her eyes so innocently that I knew instantly that she wanted me to protect her. She jumped towards me, with such fear that she hugged me thight, never tried to losen a bit. In normal circumstance I would have myself blushing right now, but the pungent smell of those creatures had driven away what we called 'normal'.

The white parade had come, surrounding the whole horizon with their pink head. It was actually a bit disgusting to see this spirit, and their hunger for memory. However, I wondered how, in their hunger, they could march together in harmony. They ought to have someone leading them, organising them so that they could launch such briliant attack. True, they actually needed a leader, as they did have before – I just unable to memorize him, or rather I did not want to. Thinking of that, I tried to find someone that was different from the blanks – someone smart enough to surround and outnumber us. Once again, I regreted I asked that question.

When I search between the blanks, I found someone – or something – that had no red pixie hat. Instead, it had a mask, a hollow mask, which I could clearly remember the pattern, the expression, the eyes of it. Was it just a great coincidence? Had that creature planned on ambushing us from the very beginning? Though I could not ask politely, I knew that were questions which the answers was compulsary for me.

Shinigami badge was ready in my hand.


	14. To Love Him More

**Bleach – Remnant of The Memories**

_Senna_ – To Love Him More

Love, even in a very vile and dangerous situation, could make you smile, for a happiness in one's heart is an inside smile of that particular person. Imagine that you loved someone, and you had made a universe of efforts in making that someone happy, as well as loving that person to the deepest core of your heart. Did you know the feeling when you were given only two options and could only choose one? And even when the choices was to let yourself die or to let the ones you love died?

I had experienced that feeling before – the feeling that all my efforts were useless, and that I was at last thrown away, abandoned by the one we truly love. It was painful, and you were lucky not to experience that kind of feeling. Well, it was more like I threw my own life to save him. It was a waste of soul, I thought, to sacrifice myself in order to save him and his kind. Why should I do that when we both could actually live? From that question, the second session of destruction had begun.

Regret always came very late, and it was utterly useless if the edge of death was very close to your throat. Yes, I did escape from my promise. Yes, I did ignore my duty to destroy Valley of Screams. Yes, I did know there were still some blanks remained, yet I ran away from what I had decided to do. However, I did have reason in doing what I was doing. Think of one general reason of someone to meet another person of opposite gender, and you have got the idea.

Maybe he was right. Maybe it was too much to call me a breathing creature, and to love me was even more illogical. However, I wanted to learn how to be a truly living creature – to feel happiness, sadness, sorrow, irritation, joy, fear, and love. I was a memory rosary that was built from memories – only memories – but somehow I could feel emotions. While some of them were less pleasuring than others, I was very excited about feeling those emotions again. And there was another reason – to love him more.

Then I began to question my eyes, because my vision contradicted a fact I had in mind. The sun was no more above us – yet the moon had not shown its beautiful face to us as well. It was compelete darkness – when no sun nor star decorated the sky. This was like those movies that I had watched – when the lost of light was the last day of hope. The sky was very sad to know that the last day of the earth was about to begin, so it reduced its own light to the earth to show its condolence. Thinking about myself as the mastermind of this disaster, even I could not forgive myself.

It was like the whole world had their fingers pointing at me, accusing me for what I had done. Every person in this world would turn their back on me, irritated of me not because what I was, but how coward I was to run from the reality of nonresistance. Everybody hated me. They were everywhere, and their terror had started gripping my mind with insanity. Fear started to cripple my body, and I was reminded of nothing but the man before me. Without hesitation, I hugged him, in symphony of love and fear – I would not even understand what I was feeling that time, but I knew that it was the only thing I could do.

"Ichigo, I love you." Those words had finally slipped out of my mouth. To me, it was absolutely not romantic, but knowing our circumstances, maybe those words were the last words I could say to him. I did not care about the blanks and their leader anymore, nor did I care about myself. If it were possible, I wanted to stop the time, preventing the blank hordes from killing us, as well as keeping him close to me. It was my most precious time, yet ironically the last precious time I could have.

"Worry not, my princess, I shall protect you." His confident sound made me a little bit relieved. And how wonderful he said it that I was then pleased by him telling me that I was his princess. He put those words so briliantly that in the most deadly situation, I could smile. No longer gripped in fear, I started to bring all my quincy power so that at least I could reduce the blanks. Those creatures were actually quiet easy to defeat – I just need to shoot their pixie head to death. However, to take aim and to shoot accurately was the problem.

My quincy technique were useless against the overwhelming number of blanks – I was a novice quincy to begin with. Soon I did not need to take aim, since they were only an inch before me. I shot randomly, even when I knew that it was useless. When a blank finally got my hand, I was compeletely at lost. I was prepared for the worst – I was willing to die.

A dance of sword slashed the blanks around me – the sword dances that belongs to Rukia.


	15. One Last Dance

**Bleach – Remnant of The Memories**

_Rukia_ – One Last Dance

Irritation started to crawl in my veins as I mentally concluded what had happened. She was wrong from the start – even from our first meeting. She was wrong, but Ichigo kept on her side instead of mine. They did not know the whole world – they were so naive and think they could live happily ever after, like the real life was just a fairy tale. When the shadow of consequences had finally haunted them, I was involved and I was the one who did the hard part. And what did I get?

I was lucky to be able to escape from the blanks before they launched their ambush. And yes, I would rather escape from problems that were not mine. The blanks were not my problem – it was her problem. This devastation was because of her – and I did not even think twice to blame her, if we made it out alive. I mean, her existence was wrong from the start, and we got problems because of her fault. She suddenly appeared before us, indirectly bringing the blanks to the human world, and danced arrogantly – a dance that pulled many troubles to us.

The reason I danced before her back then lied somewhere in my subconscious illusion – the illusorry memories that I myself could not reach. However, when my sane mind considered my act as a foolish act, my humanities told me to do so. If I thought carefully about it, there was no point in saving her. No, I did that for Ichigo – only for him, not for her. Memorizing what had occured related to the Valley of Screams, there was no such thing as she being my basis of actions. It was always Ichigo, I had done everything for him.

From the start, I had done many things for him. I saved his family from being murdered. I gave him the power that he could use freely and powerfully now. I helped him wherever, whenever I could. I did my best to do so. And yet, he was easily hypnotized by that unworthy girl that could even not be called a living creature. Ichigo had to admit it – their love would never survive.

"Do you know how to defeat these things?" was all I said to Senna, since I needed not say anything beyond that part. I was totally unwilling even to look at her face. She pointed at a sphere – a dark-purple sphere that seemed to have infinite power. She mentioned it as the source of the power for the blanks, and to destroy it was the only options, since blanks would respawn even if we slashed each and every blanks we saw.

I did not have any intention in seeing her again. She who brought these nasty creature down to earth. With a nod, I started my dance so I could make my way towards that sphere. The sphere were actually in the end of my sight, and blanks were even more crowded there. I saw Ichigo restlessly slashing and slaying blanks – any blanks before him would not stand a chance. However, regardless of his strength, he himself could not withstand the countless blanks, and it was a pity to see him die trying to do the impossible.

I actually need not worry about the blanks being able to touch me – they would disappear after they came near me. Killing them was easy, but again, killing such number of blanks would be exhausting. I walked there really slowly, slashing my sword here and there to prevent any blanks form touching me. Time seemed to stop – the sphere was still far, far away from me. I did not progress fast enough. I needed to do something.

It was a technique that I never know before, yet I somehow managed to do it with my instinct. I concentrated my insanity to my sword, leaving the sane mind of mine controling the way the sword moved. The insanity I somehow built in my sword splashed to the blanks as a red energy, eating them to their burial. At once, I was before the dark, ominous sphere, with my hand carrying a sword that would end the production of blanks.

The wind of dark essence hit my face as my sword stabbed the dark sphere, and it was unpleasant to have that kind of dark energy in your mouth – you would vomit for one whole day. However, our hopes shined brightly as I noticed that the blanks began to fade one by one. At last, the ambush of the blanks was ended so quickly and easily. It was better this way, so I could walk with him, meet him everytime I want, and one day, confess my feelings.

I declared our victory too fast. Just when I relaxed each and every muscle of mine, I felt a sharp steel digging its way through my backbone, then my stomach. The cold sensation of that sword was compeletely crippling. My soul was absorbed by that sword, and then I was a flesh lack of soul. It was shocking for me, since I knew th blanks were dead. And what appaled me the most was that I knew whose sword was it. It was Ichigo's shinigami sword.

Then everything was pitch-black.


	16. Witness of Black Murder

**Bleach – Remnant of The Memories**

_Yui_ – Witness of The Black Murder

A summary of one sentence could conclude all I had seen, generally – it was terrible. My eyes were no longer believable, since what I saw had never occured before me. The red blood filled the merciless sword that had cowardly backstabbed her. The word "murder" could be found in the dictionary, and I thought it was written accurately. However, witnessing the real murder was never the same as reading through its definition.

And it was vile to witness such evil act before me. I had never seen such murder, even on the television. I truly was, even when I was fifteen years old. Well, tha fact that I was different had compeletely isolated me from the outside world – I was able to watch television only after I was 14, and that annoyed me. And like Senna, I also wanted to feel happiness, sadness, sorrow, and love. I could only feel fear from when I was born, but now Senna offered me those feelings – the feelings I could mine from that man. However, I regreted to mention the feelings 'sadness' and 'sorrow'.

True, that woman I had never know – she was just a plain shinigami to me. However, I had a feeling that she was troubled by my presence – or Senna's, I did not know. In fact, there were evidence written on her face about her concern. I felt guilty about what happened to her, since it was the inner me who had brought that disaster to her. However, I wondered why she was willing to help us in our troublesome times, even with her concern. Maybe she had some hidden motives behind her acts.

The sword were drawn from her powerless body, and it looked satisfied of the blood it had drunk. Before, my concentration was on Rukia, so I did not know who were the one who stabbed her. When my concentration was on the sword, I wanted to run far away from that place. I rejected to believe my eyes – the eyes that gave me the vision of Ichigo's giant sword drunk of blood. As far as I knew, Rukia was Ichigo's friend, Ichigo's "precious comrade". Someone else must have taken that sword from its true master, or the sword had been tossed and accidentally stabbed Rukia, but it could not be Ichigo intentionally stabbed her.

The desire to scream and cry out loud came to me when I finally saw the bearer of the sword. Wearing black attire, that shinigami prepared the sword to slaughter another person before him when he faced me. No, Ichigo was a good guy. Senna told me so, and I believed in her more than I believed in myself. However, my belief could not defeat the fact given to me that Ichigo had commited murder. He wore a hollow mask, and I knew he did so when the enemy was too strong. I digested all I witnessed and concluded it to one, shocking conclusion – Ichigo in hollow mode had killed Rukia.

When I was unable to control myslef after recieving so many appaling facts and informations, Senna came back to take control of my body. She said that Ichigo had been corrupted by the powerful hollow that defeated him. Only a pure and potent energy that might be able to separate that hollow from Ichigo's body. To make matters worse, if we did not act fast, Ichigo would be corrupted permanently.

"And you are planning to do that?" I hopelessly asked her, since I knew the answer. She, noticing my concern, did not answer, and started to concentrate energy in our hands. It was much, much viler than the usual quincy power concentration. It was like my blood were all sucked forcefully from outside, leaving my powerless body. I knew what Senna was about to do, and if she did that, then our unity would be no more. I was about to forbid her from doing so, but I could not do anything. It was a rare chance to have such a good friend as Senna. She who was always there when I needed help, she who always said to me that everything was alright.

"Good bye, Yui." she kissed me goodbye, and I could not help but cry deep within my heart. When she released the arrow, my eyes were flooded by tears. I felt that a part of my body were cut, and were taken away from me. It was a great loss for me – one good friend like Senna was a precious treasure to me. Why all kind of thes things always happened to me? I blamed god for making my life, as well as Senna's life, miserable. I kept losing my friends, and she kept losing the one she loved. I was trapped in the cage of sorrow, and when I was able to regain the control over my body, I found her no longer in my heart.

She sacrificed herself once again for him.


	17. When Things Fall Apart

**Bleach – Remnant of The Memories**

Ichigo – When Things Fall Apart

How could I be here? The last time I remembered, I was slaughtering blanks one by one. They seemed to have countless blanks, and I started to get tired of the job. However, I could swear that I was seeing the blanks fading away. Whether they retreated or not, I myself was confused. Then suddenly the surroundings changed. No more blanks, just Senna pointing the quincy bow to me, standing before me with eyes full of tears of sorrow.

The time seemed to play tricks on me. I mean, I did not even know what had happened between the time the blanks started to fade away to the time when I found myself before sorrowful Senna – more of Yui, I thought. I tried to identify the surroundings. The place was still the same – the amusement park. An unexpected sight struck my vision – a hand dirty with blood. When I looked at another side, the conclusion was even worse – that the blood in my hand were Rukia's.

Everybody I knew would surely deny tha fact that I stabbed Rukia. However, the evidence was so obvious and undeniable that I did what I was not meant to do. I mean, it was terribly wrong of me to do that after what she had done to me – saving my families, introducing me to this world of shinigami, and all that. I had tried everything I could do to pay my debt, but my efforts were somehow insufficient to her. It was foreshadowed deep within her eyes before – that she demanded me to do her more favor.

When I tried to run to Yui, an unexpected weight pulled me back – it was like I had another me connected to my left hand. That simile was literally applied to me, since I could see a hand gripping my left arms, pulling me back with an overwhelming force. The hand belonged to no other than the familiar creature – a spiritual creature with shinigami body and hollow mask. It was, indeed, another me.

My reflexes had only one purpose – to defend myself. I swinged my sword, but that creature had known what would I do – every movement of mine had been recorded to its mind. For every single move I took, I gave that creature another advantage in battle. My vain attacks were blocked easily, and I was getting tired of undeveloped battle. In my mind, there was only one choice – to destroy the creature, once and forever.

Well, I rarely used my Bankai, since there was no necessity in using it – the hollows were so weak that I could defeat them with my finger. That time I decided to let myself feel the lust of power, and entirely slaughter that annoying creature. By the way, I wonder where that creature came from – it appeared out of nowhere, and suddenly it was related to the blanks. That thought blurred away from my mind as I slashed in an insane passion of fight.

However, I did notice a change in the creature's form – it was like using its Bankai as well. That thought once again blurred. I cried impatiently, waiting in my own subconscious lust to end this fight, with or without sins, so that I could be in my normal days. The bloodthirsty sword echoed their cry, as the creature began to dominate the battle. Thoughts of confusion swirled in my mind. Even with my Bankai, I could not defeat that creature, then what should I do?

In the paralyzing chains of confusion, I was slashed straight along my spine. When the chilling slash threw me to the sky, my sword made its own way without its master's order to meet the mother earth. I, unable to control my movement in the air, could not help but expect a great deal of pain I was about to bear for falling down from such height. However, the pain I expected never came. Instead, another impale from that creature made me vomit blood, as it struct right through my chest. I writhed in ultimate torment – I could feel my heart exploded after being stabbed.

When that creature threw my body from its sword, I was then in a perfect sitting position, with walls supporting my back and a big table supporting my rear. Blood fled from my body, having my mouth as an escape route. My vision began to blur, and I could barely move any muscle in my body. However, I could see that the creature had changed back to shinigami form. As my body weakened in every second, I was at last in my human form. Senna helped me up and support me standing.

"Senna, You'll see. I will.. win.. this fight." I said with cough of blood. I could see Senna's tears began to roll down her cheek – she could not bear to see me full of blood. With a hole in my chest, I was sure that all my friends would do the same. And the fact that she worried about me, made me happy. This fight could not have a winner other than me.

"Ichigo.." she sobbed sorrowfully. She bit her lips, as though she did not want to say the other part. She grabbed my hand and hold it thight, gathering courage from me to say what she was about to say. And from her eyes, it could not be anything good.

"S-Senna... is no more.." she continued hesitantly. Now I thought I understand how this world could overcome a man. These rare encounter, these heartfilling emotions, this unconditional love, was done for. We fought countless blanks just to be together, and now that we could not be together in eternal love, my life was pointless.

When I finally released my soul, I was bathed in innocent blinding light.


	18. To End The Rapture

**Bleach – Remnant of The Memories**

Kygrykhon – To End The Rapture

The sun started to grant the earth its beams of light, permiting another day to walk pass a man's life. The day, however, was reluctant to made its way along the world, as it knew a noble man would lose everything he had soon, and it did not want to witness the terrible loss by its own eyes. However, in one way or another, it had to come to the world, continuing life of every living things the world had carried for over million years.

To Ichigo, the amusement park was no more amusing. It was a barren battlefield – with only one ultimate opponent standing before him in victory. There were too many plight in his life that he was no more hesitated in leaving the world, with hopes that he could meet Senna up in the land of the innocent. He had faced the undefeatable force of blanks for the entire night, and he was tired. Sometimes, one need to rest peacefully and eternally after one's plight had ruptured his life.

Yui was terrified by the result of the battle Ichigo had suffered on every part of his body. She could never imagine of such torment accumulated on a man, and she wondered how the physical and emotional pain had took their way into coincident of a man's sorrow. Ichigo must be really shocked with all he had gone through, she thought. Supporting his footing, she wanted to help Ichigo in any way, sooner or later, so that he could bear the bitter destiny of his.

In the land of the lord, two brave soul had made their way to meet each other, both as rival and as a true friend. To Rukia, Senna was a true friend, since she herself sacrificed everything she had to save her, even with the lack of knowledge and relationship between them. As to Senna, Rukia was a priceless comrade, for she had fought for her without any clear reason she understood. However, both understood that they were rival to each other, for they both struggle with the hard world just for a man's heart. They then waited in the entrance of the heaven, waiting for the man whose heart they needed, but not to welcome him.

And it was finally the moment of truth, when Ichigo had let the synchronization of his mind, body, and soul break, as well as giving his soul a straight way to the souls of two young ladies with heart of gold. The moment he closed his eyes, the second that he knew would be his last second, seemed to be very long. However, nothing could stop his desire to end his own unique life – his life had been unique from the start. Into the elysion he went, and the eternal rest he had waited for was in front of his eyes.

Just then, the souls of the two young ladies showed themselves, before Ichigo, and forbade Ichigo to enter their place. They said that it was not the time for him to die, and that he had to live to defeat the creature. Rukia said that he must live for himself, while Senna said he must live to protect Yui. Rukia was actually extremely happy to see Ichigo for the last time, and they could spent the rest of their eternal existence together. However, it was not the right time and condition for Ichigo to join her, so she told him to live and leave her. Senna had her regrets after leaving her duties of destroying the Valley of Screams as she promised, and now she asked Ichigo to protect Yui so long as he lived. Yui had suffered a lot from her presence inside her heart, and she deserved a better life. So she told Ichigo to accompany her in her bitter life.

"Do not use power to defeat it." was the last message Rukia had delivered to Ichigo. Ichigo, being so sad to lost two of his most beloved friends, thanked them for what they had done to his life, and promised that he would, one day, be with them in eternity. It was a relieving, yet saddening fact to him that he could and had to live one more time. After all, he sacrificed the wrong possesion he had.

A scream of joy slipped through Yui's teeth when Ichigo opened his eyes. A power with unknown source filled Ichigo's body, and he did was he was meant to do. It occured to him that the creature actually took form of himself and his power, and what made it powerful was Ichigo's own power. Ichigo took the Shinigami badge from his pocket, and threw it to the ground. He then took his sword, and destroy the badge of his power.

He always wanted to do this in the first place – all the glorious battle and imminent dangers had irritated him. He wanted to be a normal high school student once again, having the life of a normal teenager. He wanted to study, he wanted to go together with his friends once a week, all the activities he was unable to do due to shinigami duty. That included loving a girl and being with her.

With the edge of the sword touching the badge, he ended his marvelous story of great battle by his own hands. That was the end of his story of a shinigami, and a new beginning to his normal life. The sword started to vaporize atom by atom, and his shinigami robe slowly changed into his usual clothes. Before him, the creature screamed in horror, for it had no more source of energy to keep its unnatural existence. Within seconds, the creature, as well as Ichigo's power, was no more.

Ichigo rested for the whole day. In the evening, he stood with Yui in front of a gravestone, with the name 'Rukia Kuchiki' and 'Senna' written in it. Although they had no body to burry, and Rukia's gigai was returned, their existence in Ichigo's life were priceless, and he felt like honouring the precious and beloved person of his. Now what existed in the world was the remnant of the memories Ichigo had, and Ichigo burried those memories deep under his broken heart. Yui, understanding only a few things about his life, could not help but cried in taciturnity, for Ichigo's plight was so obvious and affected her in some ways.

In his hand, a letter was writtend by Ichigo just for the two of them.

_Dear Senna and Rukia_

_ First of all, I wanted to thank you two for giving the various colour to my life. Without you two, my life would be boring and miserable. You are my precious comrade, a friend that I always love and treasure. It is really vile to me that your existence is no more – I just can not accept the fact that I lost two of my best friend._

_ Rukia, I would like to thank you for all you have done to me. From the first time, you helped me and my family, despite my attitude and my status as a stranger to you. You are a great help to me, and I can not have any other comrade as loyal and priceless as you. I still owe you much, and yet I can not pay all my debt. You are a precious comrade, and will always be my only precious comrade._

_ Senna, from the first time I met you, I am always amazed by how mysterious you are. Despite our short togetherness, I can feel your warmth. And if our meetingg could be longer, we would have our joyful time we spent together. I would teach you how to feel pride, happiness, sadness, fear, and love. Emotions can sometimes be painful, but it is an awesome thing to have. Do not have regrets of what you have done, since it was, to me, the right thing to do. I failed to protect you, and now I would like to pay the price._

_ I promised to you two to live my life with precious and great time, and one day, meet you two in eternity. I will do the best I can to fill my life with joy and happiness, with another story no greater than a high school student, yet really nice so that I can share my stories with you two. This is my promise as a man._

_ Wait for me – I will be there._

_Kurosaki Ichigo_


End file.
